


1996

by orphan_account



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Implied Anxiety, Love Confessions, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Reunions, but none of it is really addressed, implied depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 04:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4732109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1996. That was the last time Green saw Red. 10 years later in Unova, Green meets the rival he never thought he’d see again and is forced to confront the demons of his past. Can he come to terms with his feelings for Red?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written in July and posted on tumblr, now I'm posting it here! It's five chapters long.

 

 

It’s been 7 years since anyone last saw him. That loud-mouth kid, Gold, beat him on that stupid mountain in 1999. He wouldn’t shut up about it. When asked “What happened after?” Gold said, “Oh, he left…” Everyone thought maybe he’d come down, come home. But no one saw him again after that.

It’s been 10 years since Green last saw him. On the Sevii Isles, he was travelling with Leaf. Leaf decided she wanted to go to Hoenn with it’s warm beaches and Pokémon Contests. She suggested to him that he should come.

“I hear they’ve got a new champion, some girl called May. Maybe you could battle her?”

He refused, he never liked warm weather. Leaf packed up her bags and left and he decided he should leave to.

On his way to the boat back to Kanto he bumped into Green. They talked for a bit, nothing special. Maybe if Green knew this was the last time he’d see him he would have said something other than “Smell ya’ later.”

Then again, maybe not. He hated him at the time.

Green’s rival ran off to that stupid mountain without saying goodbye to anyone. 3 years later he was found and disappeared again promptly.

People have said that they have spotted him in far off regions and Green believed them at first, but now, nearly a decade since that battle with Gold, everyone had seemed to give up hope. As far as everyone close to him was concerned, Red was dead.

Green tried not to think about it.  
Green remembered being annoyed when he wasn’t invited to the Pokémon World Tournament. After all, he was a Kanto gym leader, shouldn’t he be at the Kanto Leaders Tournament?

Misty had asked him about it.

“Didn’t you get an invite?”

“No.”

“That’s a shame…”

Maybe people still saw him as Green, champion for one hour, not even worthy of being a gym leader. So imagine his surprise, when he was invited to the Champions Tournament.

He was so shocked he called Clay, the guy running the thing to be sure.

“Of course yer invited! I mean ya are a former champion, aren’t ya. Ah managed to track down champions from all over. We even got the current Unova champion, Nate. Ah couldn’t get former champion Hilda though. Ya know, she just turned in her championship and ran off one day. No one has seen her since. She was tough, ah think everyone wants to see her and Nate battle. Ya know, pass the torch…”

Green chuckled grimly when Clay told him about Hilda. A young, talented champion who ran off without losing there championship? Where had he heard that one before?

Maybe that Nate kid would find her on top of a mountain, waiting for a battle.

That, didn’t matter though. All Green cared about was the fact that he had been invited to a Champions Tournament.

Because he had been the Champion. Not a joke, the Champion.

Of course when his gym trainers asked him about he wouldn’t admit how shocked how shocked he was. He’d give a cool, “Of course I was invited.” After all, he had an image to keep.

Unova was much different then Kanto. The buildings were more modern and the air was stale.

Driftveil City used to be nothing more than a port town, but now thanks to Clay it was the tourist hub of Unova.

The building that the World Tournament was held in was big and modern. When Green showed up, Clay greeted him with a smile, led him inside and got one of the attendants to show him around.

“The Tournament will be on tomorrow,” she said, smiling, “Why don’t you go and meet the other participants?”

Green went looking for the other participants and the first person he found was a tall women in dark clothes with blonde hair. He had heard of her. She was Cynthia, former Sinnoh champion. She had a reputation as being one of the toughest champions in any region and people had been shocked when news came that she had been dethroned by a girl named Dawn.

She looked too imposing to talk to so Green walked away. He passed a man with steal grey hair and another with turquoise hair and flamboyant clothes deep in conversation. He was pretty sure there names were Steven and Wallace and that they were from Hoenn. He then saw Lance and was about to go over to him when he noticed he was on his Pokégear.

Green decided to go back of the building where it was quiet. He wanted to be alone. It was so awkward being here, even after all these years he never felt like a champion. He opened the heavy fire escape and sea air blew past him, making him glad he had has bomber jacket on. He closed it and looked around and he’s breath hitched in this throat.

Someone was there.

But not just anyone, him. The person he hasn’t seen since 1996.

Green recognised him instantly. He looked almost the same. He was clearly older, but not that taller. Where as when they kids, he was taller than most his age, now Green towered over him. He wore the same short sleeved red jacket and thin black t-shirt. Same red and white baseball cap, tugged down, hiding his eyes. He had the same, messy jet black hair and the same chubby Pikachu perched on his shoulder.

Green went pale. He felt liked he had seen a ghost. He didn’t know what to say, until he finally let out a chocked;

“Red.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My headcanon for the time line is that RBGY and RSE happened in 1996, GSC and DPPt happened in 1999, BW happened in 2004 and BW2 happened in 2006, so Red and Green are 21 here.
> 
> I also changed the way the Pokémon World Tournament works here a bit. Nate will only take part in the Champions Tournament and doesn’t unlock it by taking part in the other ones. That wouldn’t really make sense out of the context of a video game.


	2. Chapter 2

“Red.”

Red turned around to face Green, his eyes going wide. He stopped and stared at him for a moment, the man he hadn’t seen since he was 11.

Green looked older. His hair was much longer, he was taller and his purple sweater, jeans, brown boots and duel coloured necklace had been replaced by a bomber jacket, cargo pants, black boots and a teardrop-shaped necklace.

“G… Green.” Red said, in his usual quiet voice.

Green was surprised to hear Red talk, his rural-accented voice sounded deeper. He breathed in and out a few times, before walking over slowly and punching Red square in the jaw.

Green expected a “What was that for?” but Red just gave him a look, as though he knew.

“We thought you were dead.”

Silence.

“Still a chatty gossip I see. No one’s heard from you since that kid Gold beat you. I began to think you offed yourself out of pride. Heh, imagine.”

Red flinched. Green noticed Pikachu giving him a death glare. Red finally spoke.

“So you where worried about me, huh?”

Green blushed. “N…no! It’s just… Daisy and Leaf and your Mom were all worried sick and I care about them. I couldn’t care less if you lived or died.” He was lying of course, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “So, where did you go.”

Red looked around, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Green sighed, “What are you doing here then.”

“I was around, decided to enter the tournament.”

“Just like that!” Green yelled, years of anger coming out. “You vanish for years and then just decide to enter a national tournament.”

“I’m 21 now Green, not 14. Maybe I wanted to see everyone again.”

“Well I’m 21 too Red and maybe I never wanted to see you again.” Green wasn’t even trying to lie any more. He was letting everything out. “Maybe I had just gotten over you! Maybe I had finally accepted that you weren’t coming back! And maybe dropping this bombshell on me after I haven’t spoken to you in 10 years is too much!”

Red looked at Green. “You did miss me.”

“M… maybe I did. After all I like to think that we were friends.”

Red didn’t say anything.  
“Look where are you staying?”

“The Pokémon Centre.”

“The Pokémon Centre?! Look dude, come back to my hotel room, the bed’s huge.” Green was sure he could Red blush. “We’re going. Now!” Green grabbed Red’s hand and trailed him along.

“But isn’t Clay holding a meeting in like 10 minutes?”

“Fuck that, we have stuff to talk about.”

Red stopped fighting and followed Green.

The hotel room was very fancy, the place was five stars. Green was reluctant about taking it, saying he’d pay for his own room the three star down the street, but Clay insisted, saying he’d travelled far and needed a nice room and that the Tournament made a lot of money so he could afford it.

Green decided just for once to pretend he was his bratty 11 year old self again and take the room. After all, Clay was being generous, who was he to say no.

“Why didn’t Clay give you a hotel room, everyone else got one.”

“Didn’t want one.”

“Let me guess, you ran off before he could ask?”

Red glared at him, but nodded.

Red sat down on a chair in the cornet and Pikachu moved down to his lap.

Green went to say something but didn’t and decided to leave him for now. He walked over to another part of the room, where a video phone was sitting. After what had just happened he needed a distraction so decided to call Daisy. He decided not to tell her about Red yet.

To his surprise, Leaf answered.

“Oh, hey Green.”

“W… what are you doing in Pallet Town? I thought you were in Sinnoh? What happened to, I can’t come out to Unova Green I’m super busy.”

“Oh, I know, I know. It’s just I had to come out to see her once I heard the news!”

“What news?”

“She hasn’t told you? Oh, she’s pregnant!”

Green’s eyes went wide. “W… what? She’s pregnant, put her on!”

“She’s over at Delia’s house, so I can’t.”  
Hearing Delia’s name made Green flinch, considering who was in the room with him. In the past few years it had gone from Red’s house, to Delia’s house, considering the fact that Red hadn’t been there in 10 years and no one wanted to say his name any more.

“Green, what’s wrong, are you okay?”

Leaf snapped him out of his thoughts. “Oh… uh, yeah. I’m just surprised is all. I can’t believe she told you before me!”

Leaf laughed loudly, causing Red and Pikachu to hear just who was on the phone. Before Red could react Pikachu jumped out of his lap and over to Green and the video phone.

Pikachu may have never like Green, but he loved Leaf.

He jumped up on the table in front of Green, causing Green’s eyes to go wide. Shit.

“Pikachu-Pi!”

Leaf recognised this Pikachu. “Pi… Pikachu? R… Red’s Pikachu?” She hadn’t said his name aloud in years.

Before either Green or Leaf could react, someone was standing behind Green and spoke, loud enough so that she could hear, “Leaf?”

Leaf froze, her eyes going wide then watering, “Red. Is that you?”

“Y…yeah.”

Green and Pikachu both took the cue to move out of the way so that Leaf could see Red.

“I… I can’t believe it. I thought you were dead.” Her shock turned to anger, “You idiot! Where were you?”

Red just looked at her awkwardly.

“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Look, I gotta go, I can’t deal with this right now, but you two idiots? I don’t care about that competition, you too get out here ASAP!” She hung up.

The room was silent for a moment.

“So… Leaf.”

“Yep.” Green popped the p.

“She looks different.”

“Of course she does, it’s been ten years.”

“Her hair is different. She has bangs.”

“I know.”

“It suits her.”

“Yeah, it does. Daisy’s pregnant you know.”

“Yeah, I heard you yelling. How is she?”

“Good.”

The two sat in silence for a moment, until, much to Green’s surprise, Red burst into tears.

Green wasn’t sure he had ever seen Red cry. He was never the most emotional person in the world. Even when bad things happened, Red always looked on the bright side, kept a calm head. He never cried. It was almost as though 21 years of bottled up feelings were coming out.

“R.. Red, what’s wrong?”

“I really hurt everyone didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you kinda did.” Green wasn’t sure if that was the best thing to say right now, but he couldn’t help it.

“I’m a real bastard, aren’t I.”

Green just looked at him, surprised.

“Look I’m sorry, okay, I’m sorry!” he yelled. Red never yelled. “I’m sorry about everything.”

Green was never good at dealing with his own emotions, let alone other peoples. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Look, Red, why don’t you sit down, tell me about just where you were?”

Red nodded, wiping his eyes and sat down on Green’s bed. Green leaned against the wall facing him.

“Well… uh…. I guess I should begin with why I went to Mt Silver.”

“I’ve been wondering that for years. Was it training or some shit?”

“Well, at first that’s what I told myself, but really… well…”

“Well, what?”

“I couldn’t deal with it.”

“With what?”

“Anything. Being the hero champion everyone looked up to, it was so much pressure. And…”

“And what?

“And I felt bad for defeating you.”

Green was shocked. “You felt bad for winning?”  
“Yeah! You had wanted to become champion ever since we were kids and I just took that away from you. And the way your grandfather treated you about losing was terrible! I hated myself for it”

Green couldn’t believe his ears. For years he had been angry about losing and for a while he blamed Red for it and hated him because of it. To see that Red felt the same way, was surprising to say the least. “You were upset about that?”

“Yeah, so when Leaf left for Hoenn I took the first chance I got and ran! I ran away to Mt Silver, away from everyone!”

“Red… that is… it’s stupid, don’t get me wrong, you are an absolute idiot, but at least now I know you had a reason.”

Red looked at him before continuing, “I stayed up there for 3 years until that kid beat me. After that, I left. I was gonna go back to Pallet Town, but I couldn’t face anyone after all that time. So I ran off to Johto.”

“There were a few sightings off you there.”

Red nodded, “I just kept travelling. Johto and eventually Sinnoh and Unova.”

“What made you come here?”

“I turned 21 a while ago, in February. I thought about it and realised I couldn’t run forever. I heard you where going to be here. So asked if I could enter, being a champion and all. I knew I was going to see you, but was still surprised when I did. I still imagined you like when you were 11…” he voice stopped and he looked down.

Green looked at him, “I’m still angry at you, you know, for leaving like that. It hurt you know. But once I stopped hating you I realised I lo…. cared about you.” Red seemed not to notice the slip up. “I’m really glad your okay, you idiot.”

I’m not, I’m a mess, Red felt like saying but didn’t.

“Leaf’s right you know. We should probably go back tomorrow.”

“But what about the Tournament?”

“Fuck the tournament, you need to see your Mom..”

Red didn’t say anything.

“Sleep with me.”

“W… what?” Red’s face matched his name.

“Not like that, you idiot!” Green yelled. “Sleep in my bed for the night.”

Red nodded.

“Want to watch TV?”

“Sure.”

Green looked over at Red, whose hair was covering his eyes, stroking Pikachu. He smiled and hoped Red would smile back, but he didn’t. I’ll work on that.

He hoped this was the first step to normality, he hoped that Red would stay forever. He was about to grab the remote but had an idea.

“Wanna see something cool,” Green said.

Red looked over surprised when Green threw a poké ball and an Umbreon came out.

“Woah, Eevee evolved! Let me show you something.” Red threw a poké ball an Espeon came out.

“I can see your Eevee evolved as well.”

“They match!” Red looked up and smiled. A genuine smile.

Green would say his stomach fluttered, but he wasn’t a teenage girl.

He had realised a long time ago that he didn’t hate Red. Quite the opposite was true.

He loved Red.

He had loved him for years and realised it a long time ago.

He didn’t think Red would ever come back and now that he had he wasn’t sure what to do.

He supposed the first step was building up there friendship again. They weren’t exactly on the best terms the last time they spoke.

“Red…” Green said, “Do you think we can be friends again.”

“I’ve always seen you as my friend Green,” Red said.

Yes, Green was definitely, hopelessly in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was longer than I expected it to be and I got it done very quickly! I was hard to do, I’m not that good at dialogue! Yes, it got rather shippy towards the end >.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, much to Green and Red’s surprise the Tournament was cancelled due to a power outage in the stadium. Clay bought everyone flights back to their home regions, and rescheduled the Tournament to a month later.

Of course from Red and Green’s point of view this was a blessing as it meant they could go home without causing any trouble. Within a matter of hours they were on a plane to Vermilion City. An airport had been built of that piece of land that the old man and his Machop seemed to be working on forever.

“It sure was nice of Clay to give us tickets,” said Red.

“First the hotel rooms and now this,” replied Green, “That man must be loaded!”

Green turned to Red and noticed he seemed uncomfortable and was stroking Pikachu in an odd manner. “Uh, dude, are you like, okay?”

“I don’t like planes.”

“You don't”

“No.”

“Your telling me you’ll fly on Charizard just fine, but not a plane.”

“I trust Charizard, I don’t trust a plane.”

“Hmm… that actually makes sense.” Green looked out the window before asking, “Can I see the rest of your team when we get to Kanto?”

“Sure.”

Red and Green sat in silence for most of the journey. When they landed and eventually got out of the airport, Red got out Charizard and flew them to Pallet Town.

“I’ll fly on Pidgeot.”

“Charizard’s bigger.”

Green was going to retort, but didn’t feel like arguing. Besides it wasn’t every day one got to fly on the back of a Charizard.

While they were flying, Red looked down and said, “I forgot how beautiful Kanto was.”

When they landed on Route 1, just outside of Pallet Town, Red gave Charizard a thumbs up and a wicked grin and returned him to his poké ball. Green knew that it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Red was more comfortable around Pokémon than he was around people.

Red looked over at the sign saying “WELCOME TO PALLET TOWN,” and grimaced. “Look, Green, I don’t think I can do this.”

“What?”

“Look, it was a mistake meeting up with you and coming here, I’m sorry.”

“A mistake?” Green yelled, anger getting the better of him, “Look Red, I’m not gonna let you just wander off again after 10 years! Your 21 not 11, you can’t just run away from your problems, I learnt that the hard way. Go and talk to your friends and your Mom, Red.”

“But they’ll hate me!”

Green sighed. “They’ll be angry, of course they will. I was. You hurt us Red, you really did.”

“I know I did,” Red said, rubbing his jaw, where a bruise had formed from Green’s earlier punch.

“But they love you and even if they are really mad, ultimately they’ll be glad to see you alive and well. Go if you want, whatever, who am I to stop you. But I think you’re making a mistake.”

“You’re… you’re right, but it’s just hard you know.”

Green paused, trying to think of a way to help Red. “Think of it like a really hard battle. It seems tough, but you go and you do it! And you always win Red.”

“Yeah,” Red said getting fired up, the way he only did during a Pokémon battle, “Let’s go!” Red ran to Daisy’s house before realisation about what he was about to do hit him and he stopped in his tracks shaking.

“Well what are you waiting for Red?!? Knock the door!”

Red slowly knocked the door and closed his eyes, waiting for someone to answer.

“Who is it…” a voice said, opening the door, before stopping in her tracks, wide eyed. “R… Red?” It was Daisy and she looked as though she had seen a ghost.

“Hello Daisy.”

“Red.” Daisy stumbled back, “You’re alive.”

He nodded.

“W… what are you doing here.”

“I came with him.” He pointed back to Green, who waved awkwardly.

“Green, you’re home.”

“Yeah the Champions Tournament was cancelled.”

“With Red.” 

“Yeah.”

“Who we haven’t seen since 1996.”

“Yeah.”

“Who is alive.”

“Yeah.”

“I… I can’t believe it. Come on in you two, it’s cold out.”

Red and Green walked in and sat down on the coach. “I’ll go and make tea,” said Daisy, dazed.

Before Green or Red could do anything, someone ran down the stairs. The two turned around and were faced with a familiar face.

Leaf.

Red took in her appearance. She had matured from an adolescent into a curvy woman. He hair was in a slightly different style, with bangs, and she no longer wore he trademark white hat. She was dressed in a black mini dress with a white belt and gloves and black high-heeled boots.

“Hello Red.” She motioned for him to stand up, which he did.

She walked over and slapped him leaving his cheek red. “That’s because you left!” Then she hugged him “And this is because you came back.”

“L… Leaf.” he spluttered.

“You’re alive,” she said. She let him go and placed her hand on his shoulders. “Where were you and what happened?”

“It’s… uh, it’s kind of a long story. Wait until Daisy comes back and I’ll explain.”

Daisy came in about a minute later with tea for Red and Green. “Oh Leaf!” she said, “I didn’t even think about getting you some.”

“It’s okay… Red has something to tell us.”

Daisy sat down beside Leaf, who motioned for Red to speak.

So he told them everything he told Green, about Mt Silver and his reasons for leaving, about Gold defeating him and running off travelling, about meeting Green and coming back, only this time it came out a little easier.

“So that Gold kid really did defeat you,” said Leaf.

“Yeah.”

“I kinda thought he was making it up.”

“No, it happened.”

Leaf looked down at the ground at said, “It was my fault.”

“W.. what was?”

“You running away.”

Red looked surprised, “What?”

“If I hadn’t have left to Hoenn you wouldn’t have ran away.”

“Leaf… I’m the selfish one. You went to follow your dreams. I shouldn’t need a babysitter to stop me from being insane…”

Leaf looked at him “I truly didn’t know you felt like that. You always so quiet… you should have talked to me about it.”

“Not talking about stuff… story of his life,” said Green with a dark laugh.

“I… I…” Red stuttered, desperately wanting to talk about something else, “Daisy! You’re having a bay, right.”

“Oh, uh, yes.”

“Congratulations!”

“Thanks, me and Mike are so excited.”

“Is Mike the father?”

“Yes. We’ve been dating for three years!”

“I’m busy too ya’ know,” said Leaf, “I won all the contest ribbons in Hoenn and Sinnoh and am currently a contest judge in Lilycove City! I was out in Hearthome for a conference, but left early when I heard Daisy’s news. I just had to see her!”

“That’s really cool Leaf, I’m happy for you.”

“Pikachu-Pi!”

“I think Pikachu is as well.”

“He looks as cute as ever!” said Daisy.

“Well you wouldn’t say that if you came up against him in a battle…” mutttered Green.

“Red…” said Daisy, “Have you talked to your mother yet?”

Red froze.

“You have to go and talk to her!”

Leaf and Green both looked at Red and nodded.

“You’re right, but I just can’t face her.”

Green sighed, “Go and talk the poor woman you idiot. She’s a wreck.”  
“Green!” scolded Daisy.

“You’ve seen her, it’s true.”

“I’m going to talk to her,” said Red, standing up, “I want to see her, I have to face her. I’m going alone… well, not alone,” he said petting Pikachu, “But without any of you.”

The three of the nodded.

“Red,” said Leaf, “We have to talk about what happened more later, but for now, let just let me say that I’m really happy to see you.”

Red smiled and walked out the door.

Red’s legs shook as he made his way down the dirt path, towards the woman he hasn’t seen since 1996. He never even said goodbye to her before he left on his journey. He felt awful.

“Pikapi,” Pikachu said, sensing his trainers discomfort.

He spotted the small white house and ran over. He opened the gate and made his way up to the front door. He breathed in and knocked.

No answer.

He knocked again.

He heard noise coming from inside the house, footsteps coming towards the door.

The door opened.

The woman looked as though she was about to great him, but stopped once she realised who he was. Her eyes went wide.

Red expected, crying, screaming, hugging. But instead all he got was a pained, “…Red?”

He looked at her. Her hair was greying, her eyes where dull, she looked worn and tired. But it was unmistakably her. He swallowed before speaking.

“Hey, Mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing really to say about this chapter, only it was fun writing Leaf and Daisy.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey Mom.”

The silence was deathly. Neither could look each other in the eye. The just stood there, neither believing what was happening.

“You… you’re…” Delia struggled to find the right words, “…Come inside.”

Red stepped inside the house he hadn’t been in in ten years. Not much had changed. Most of the furniture was still the same, if my worn looking. Like his mother. He hadn’t seen her since February 27th 1996.

Shit, since it’s November that means it’s been almost 11 years.

He had spent around half his short life without his mother. Realising that was like a punch to the gut.

She was just standing there, staring at him, not saying anything, not reacting. She didn’t seem angry or happy or sad-just broken. Had he done this?

People often thought of him as emotionless and while he was rather quiet and did keep to himself most of time, who could certainly feel.

He could certainly feel awful.

“…Can I sit down?” he finally asked.

“Oh!” she snapped out of her trance, “Sure.”

He sat down on the old, uncomfortable couch,

“I’ll go and get some tea and biscuits. I wasn’t expecting any visitors, so I’ll see what I have.”

Red took note of the fact that she referred to him as a visitor. Why shouldn’t she? He hadn’t lived here in 10 years.

Pikachu got off of his shoulder and curled up beside him. Red unconsciously began petting him. He thought about what he was going to say to his Mother when she came back in. He wasn’t the best at talking to people in normal situations and this was hardly a normal situation.

She came back in a couple of minutes later with a cup of tea and a plate of chocolate digestives.  
She sat down on the seat facing him and began idly tapping her fingers on the coffee table. The silence was painful, until she finally spoke.

“You came back.”

He nodded.

“After all these years, you came back.”

“…Yeah.”

“You know, I remember hearing from Daisy that you had gone on a journey. I was so proud. Yet… I couldn’t believe you didn’t come and tell me yourself.”

Red didn’t know what to say.

“I guess that’s just children. Always in a rush. Is that the Pikachu you got.”

Red nodded,

“It’s very cute.”

Pikachu’s ears perked up and he smiled.

“When I heard you had become champion I was so happy for you. I kept waiting for the day when you’d come back home. But you never did. Then one day…” he hands were shaking now, “You just went missing.”

Red gulped.

“I kept waiting for the day when you’d come back, but you never did. I thought you were dead…”

“Well… uh, I’m here now.”

“You never once came to show me your Pokémon. You never even said goodbye. And now you come back? After I’ve been lonely for ten years?”

Red noticed the anger growing in her voice and flinched.

“First you father left me, then you. It seems like everyone I love… just doesn’t care.” Her voice shook, somewhere between anger and sadness.

Red stared at her, stunned at the comparison to his father. His father, who when he was eight, just walked out of the house and never came back.

His father who he hated.

“I… I’m no better than him,” his voice cracked. “I.. I’m so sorry.” He hid is face in his hands.

She looked at him. “Oh, pumpkin. Where have you been.”

He looked up at her. “Around…”

The two looked at each other for a while. Red knew that he had hurt her and that she wasn’t the same. He wasn’t sure if they’re relationship could be fixed, but he’d try.

“Don’t worry Mom, I’ll always remember to call.”

It was later on that night and Red was lying on his bed, staring at the celling. His Mom had said she was tired and went to bed early. Pikachu was lying beside him.

“You haven’t been in here before, have you Pikachu?”

Pikachu nodded, no.

“It’s exactly the same as the day I left…”

Suddenly Red’s door opened and he jumped up. It was Green.

“Wha.. how did you get in here?”

“The door was unlocked.”

“So? You don’t just break into peoples houses!”

“Look, do ya want me to leave, loser?”

“No, stay now.” Red rolled his eyes.

Green sat down on the bed, Indian style, facing Red.

“So… um, “Green stuttered, “How did it go. With your Mom, I mean?”

“As good as it could.”

“So, not that great then?”

Red nodded.

“She was really hurt be you leaving…”

“It seems like everyone was.”

“Yeah, you idiot, but her especially. I mean, she is your Mom. She was so… withdrawn for years. She’s only started inviting Daisy over for tea lately.”

“I feel like shit.”

The two sat for about a minute, before Green said, “Your Pokémon.”

“You said I could see your team.”

“Oh, yeah! Wanna go out the back?”

“Yeah.”

A few minutes later they were outside in the cold winters night, and Red had his full team out.

“Charizard should warm us up.”

Green looked at them. Pikachu, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Espeon and Snorlax. They were just as impressive as ever.

“Wow. I never told you this Red, but they really are stunning.”

“Oh, they are,” Red said sarcastically, “Has Green Oak finally learned some humility?”

“Shut up!” Green said, playfully punching him in the arm.

“So how’s life as a gym leader?”

“Good. Lot’s of work. It’s worth it though, people say I’m the toughest gym leader in Kanto you know.”

“Oh, they do now.” Red folded his arms. “Well, I’d like a battle with the so-called, toughest gym leader.”

Green froze. He hadn’t even considered battling Red. Especially not after last time…

He swallowed. “Of course I’ll battle you, you loser! Consider it revenge for last time.”

So it began. Green had more than six Pokémon in rotation, but had brought his main team with him;  
Umbreon, Pidgeot, Arcanine, Alakazam, Gyarados and Rhydon.

As he watched Red battle, Green was in awe. He did it with such grace and elegance, like a fine art. He and his Pokémon were always on the same level… he remembered why people called him the master.

Of course, Green lost. He always lost to Red. He didn’t want to feel bad about it, but couldn’t help it.

“Umbreon return! Take a rest, pal.”

Pikachu meanwhile was back on Red’s shoulders, looking worse for ware then he did earlier. “You did great buddy.”

Red walked over to his rival and extended his hand. “Great battle, Green, your just as touch as ever.”

“But I lost…”

“Yeah, but not by much. Remember when we were younger and you’d always say it was a fluke.”

“Oh, I was just in denial…”

“Dude, do you wanna talk about something?”

“No… I guess I’m still just a bit annoyed about losing to you at the League. I know it’s silly.”

“No, it’s not. I feel bad about it…”

“Why? You won.”

“But the way the Professor treated you…”

“Oh, he’s always at that shit. It’s not your fault.”

“I know, but…” his voice died off, not being able to think of anything to say.  
“Your just a better trainer than me Red, your a better trainer than most. I guess I always sorta knew that and it made me angry…”

“Green. You know the reason why I always went all out when battling you?”

“Why?”

“Cause I really just wanted to show you that I could win… that I wasn’t a loser. You were such a bastard back then…”

“I kinda was.”

“…Well, at least you didn’t run away to a mountain.”

Green said nothing.

“You know, I always missed back when we were little kids and we were best friends.”

“…I…I never stopped seeing you as my friend, really Red.”

“Hmm?”

“Yeah, underneath all the teasing and name calling, I still, liked you. That’s why I teased you.”

“Huh?”

“I liked you… like really liked you and I guess I couldn’t deal with it.”

Red’s face had gone red. Did Green mean?

“Oh, what am I saying, I’m an idiot,” he muttered.

Red decided to leave the topic alone, for now.

They sat for a while, talking about the gym (yeah that Gold loser keeps comin’ by with his friends-some overly happy girl, a blue-haired chick and a red head with an attitude problem. He’s a gym leader in Johto now), what Red had seen on his travels (you should see Mount Coronet, it’s so big!) and how everyone was, (Leaf’s considered some sort of fashion icon in Hoenn, you know).

All the while Red couldn’t stop thinking of what Green had said earlier.

“I liked you… like really liked you and I guess I couldn’t deal with it.”

Was Green in love with him?

Red decided to bring it back up.

“Green… what did you mean earlier when you said you really liked me?”

“Oh, uh, just…”

“Green.”

“Fine, you asshole! Fine! You wanna know what I meant?”

Suddenly and without warning, Green grabbed Red and kissed him. The kiss ended almost as soon as it began, leaving Red dazed.

“There. You had to ruin it didn’t you?” And Green ran.

“W… wait Green!” Red was about to run after him, but after seeing the look on his face, decided he probably wanted some time alone. He’d go and talk to him in the morning.

Pikachu was looking at him, surprised. Red grabbed him and said, “So Green’s in love with me? I was not expecting that.”

The real question was, was Red in love with Green?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit went down! Next chapter is the grand finale.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Green was no where to be found. Red went to Daisy’s house, the Laboratory (where he greeted a very shocked Professor Oak), Leaf’s father’s house, but couldn’t find him anywhere.

The whole time, he couldn’t stop thinking about what happened. Green loved him. Green had kissed him. It was the last thing he expected.

“Red?” Leaf snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“What happened last night?”

“W… what?!” Red blushed.

“What made Green run off?”

“I… uh…” Red mumbled something.

“What did you say?”

“He kissed me!”

“W… what?”

“He kissed me…”

“Oh. Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“I can’t believe he actually did it.”

“W… what?” Red’s turned to her, eyes wide.

“Red… that man’s loved you for years.”

“I… I never knew.”

“Of course you didn’t,” she paused. “He hated you when you left. But overtime he realised… that he loved you. I figured it out and got him to admit it a while ago… He really had a hard time dealing with it. I don’t wanna go into that now though. ”

“I… I can’t believe it.”

“Red,” she asked, “How do you feel?”

“W… what?”

“Do you love him?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Well, I’d say think about it.”

Red thought back to the kiss. He certainly felt something. When Red was travelling he’d often think of Green. He missed him. When he was younger, seeing Green would make his heart speed up and his cheeks go Red. It still did. He cared about Green a lot, even when Green started being mean to him he still thought of him as his best friend.

Red liked Green an awful lot.

Was this love?

Maybe.

“I… I might..”

“What?” Leaf exclaimed.

“I… I think I might love him too.”

“Really?” Leaf grinned.

“…Yeah.”

“Oh that’s wonderful! You too would be so cute together! You have to tell him..”

“But what if…”

“What?” Leaf interrupted Red, “You like him, he likes you, tell him how you feel!”

“But I don’t know where he is!”

“Why don’t you try the Gym?”

“The Gym… of course! Thank you Leaf!”

Before Leaf could respond, Red was flying away on Charizard.

 

Red landed outside the Viridian Gym only to find it was closed. He decided to knock the door anyway.

“Green?” he yelled, while knocking. “Green, are you in there. I just wanna talk!”

Red stood there for about a minute but no one come. He turned away and was about to go back to Pallet, when he heard the door open.

“…Red…?”

“Green!” Red found his old rival standing at the door, Umbreon at his feet.

“W… what are you doing here?” Green was blushing.

“I came to talk.”

“Go away Red,” Green said darkly.

“But, Green, I just-”

“No, go away Red!” he yelled, “I know you just came reject me. I don’t want to hear that.”

“But Green-”

“Red, leave!”

“I love you!” Red yelled suddenly.

“You… you… what?”

“I love you… or at least I think I do. I’m not good with emotions and shit, but I’m positive that what I feel for you is love.”

Green was shocked. How could Red love him? The hour-long champion that was nothing but rude to him.

“But… but, you hate me!”

“Green, I don’t hate you, were did you get that idea from! I thought we went over this earlier…”

“But I thought you’d end up with Leaf or something.” Green rolled his eyes.

“Green, I’m gay and last time I checked, Leaf isn’t a man.”

“But, I was mean to you as a kid!”

“Yeah and I know you didn’t mean it. Look, I’m not good with this kind of thing, but… I just wanted to tell you. I don’t care what happens next, I just wanted you to know.”

Green was shocked. He couldn’t believe it. Never in a million years would he imagine that Red loved him. He had had a crush on Red since he was 11, something that only grew as time went on. Back when he was travelling he couldn’t deal with it, hence his bullying behaviour. It got worse after he began to hate Red after losing to him at the League. But as he got older he gradually admitted his feelings to himself… not that that made him feel any better…

“Green?”

Green’s train of thought was interrupted. “Hmm?”

“I… would, you like to er… uh… go out with me?”

Green stared at him wide eyed. Would he go out with Red? He thought he had gotten over his feelings for Red, feelings which him into a bad place. After Red left, he pretended to be fine with it for years, until it all came pouring out. He was clinically depressed and had to get medication. He found it stupid really, that he would become depressed for such a silly reason. Leaf and Daisy always told him that it wasn’t his fault, but he didn’t care, he just felt like shit.

He had been fine and off the medication for about a year, but with Red back he didn’t know how to feel. He felt happy and angry and scared.

And what about Red? He doubted the man who had vanished for ten years was exactly the picture of mental health. Was this the right choice?

“Green?”

What the hell, they could have a nice long talk and sort out their personal demons later. Right now, he just wanted to be happy.

“Yeah, why not. I mean you’re pretty cool for a dork.” Green said in a mocking tone.

Red glared before laughing. “You really haven’t changed that much.”

“Well, you’re a lot more chatty then you used to be.”

Red shrugged.

“Don’t expect any romantic shit though,” Green laughed.

“Gag.” said Red.

“Wanna riff on shitty B movies? I hear Plan 9 From Outer Space, is on.”

“I’d like nothing more,” Red grinned.

Green realised why he liked his childhood rival so much.

The two walked into the gym, Pikachu and Umbreon following.

They could deal with personal problems and Leaf gushing over their new found relationship some other time.

Right now Green just wanted to watch bad movies, eat junk food and maybe make out.

They had a lot of catching up to do-after all, Green hadn’t seen Red since 1996.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah… that just sorta ended. I swear I had loads of plans for chapters involving a more in depth look at Green’s former depression and Red’s mental health, hints of which you can see sprinkled throughout the chapters. But I just ran out of inspiration and didn’t know how to wrap things up, but I didn’t want to just leave things unresolved so… yeah. I might go back and re-write it in the future, but for now, this is the end.
> 
> Yeah.
> 
> It got a bit heavy in the middle, but I tried to inject some characteristic humour near the end :p
> 
> This fic didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I had lots of plans. Dealing with the loss at the League, Red’s time away, a look at Green’s mental health… but… I guess I got my first dose of write disillusionment.
> 
> I hope you liked this fic anyway. NamelessShipping is my OTP and I’ll revisit it in the future. In the meantime I have an idea for a Huntershipping fic, so keep your eyes out. If you care… which after this shit you probably won’t :p
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> P.S. After watching Plan 9 From Outer Space, Red and Green played a fun game of tonsil hockey.


End file.
